Methods and systems for receiving ratings from a third-party source of ratings

ABSTRACT

Methods and systems are presented for selecting a preferred source of ratings (e.g., Metacritic.com) and integrating the ratings into the electronic program guide (EPG) such as displaying the ratings alongside program listings. By allowing the user to select the source of ratings, the media guidance application ensures that the ratings provided are meaningful to the user. The media guidance application retrieves the ratings from the source of ratings selected by the user and displays the retrieved ratings in the corresponding program listing so that the user may make an informed decision about his or her television viewing. The media guidance application may also incorporate the retrieved ratings into media guidance functions such as setting reminders, scheduling recordings, or recommending programs.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/358,967, filed Mar. 20, 2019, currently allowed, which is acontinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/850,082, filed Dec.21, 2017, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,284,918, which is a continuation of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 15/278,372, filed Sep. 28, 2016, now U.S.Pat. No. 9,854,314, the disclosure of which are hereby incorporated byreference herein in their entireties.

BACKGROUND

When scrolling through an electronic program guide (EPG), the user isprovided with a wide variety of metadata about each television show,including broadcast dates, actors, and ratings. However, if the ratingsare from a source that is outside of the user's control, they may notreflect the user's preferences and expectations, and hence may not beuseful. While there are many sources of ratings that the user mayconsult when doing a separate search (e.g., a specific web site such asMetacritic.com), there is no way to set up an EPG to be populated withratings from such a user-selected source. Thus, to find ratings forcontent from the user's preferred source, he or she must instead takethe time to go to the individual website and then search for theratings, an inefficient use of the user's time.

SUMMARY

Accordingly, methods and systems are presented for selecting a preferredsource of ratings (e.g., Metacritic.com) and integrating the ratingsinto the electronic program guide (EPG), such as displaying the ratingsalongside program listings. By allowing the user to select the source ofratings, the media guidance application ensures that the ratingsprovided are meaningful to the user. The media guidance applicationretrieves the ratings from the source of ratings selected by the userand displays the retrieved ratings in the corresponding program listingso that the user may make an informed decision about his or hertelevision viewing. The media guidance application may also incorporatethe retrieved ratings into media guidance functions such as settingreminders, scheduling recordings, or recommending programs.

In some aspects, the media guidance application receives, from a user, aselection of a source of ratings. The source of ratings includes adatabase of a plurality of ratings, and each rating of the plurality ofratings is associated with a media asset identifier. The source ofratings may be an online ratings provider such as Metacritic.com, RottenTomatoes, or Internet Movie Database. In one embodiment, the mediaguidance application may prompt a user to select the source of ratingsby providing an option for text input or a list of suggested options.The media guidance application may receive the user input in the form oftext (e.g., “www.Metacritic.com”) or the selection of an option in alist of options. The media guidance application may then determine thecorresponding source of ratings that matches the user input by eitherdetermining the source of ratings connected to the input text, orretrieving from memory the link associated with the selected option. Forexample, the user may select Metacritic.com from a list of optionsincluding Metacritic.com, Rotten Tomatoes, and Internet Movie Database.

The media guidance application automatically stores the selected sourceof ratings in memory on user equipment. The selection is stored inmemory by storing a tag. The tag indicates the source of ratingsselected by the user by identifying the source of ratings by name, byincluding a link to the source of ratings, or by another means. Theselection may be stored in association with the specific user by storingthe tag indicating the selection with the user profile associated withthe user. In some embodiments, the media guidance application mayreceive from the user, user registration information such as password orother user account information. The media guidance application may thenverify the user registration information is valid and store the verifieduser registration information with any additional information such as aURL linking to the selected source of ratings in the user profileconnected to the user. For example, the media guidance application mayalso store in the user profile, in addition to the tag indicating theuser's selection (e.g., Metacritic.com), the URL of the selected source,(e.g., “www.Metacritic.com”), as well as the user's username andpassword associated with the Metacritic.com account.

The media guidance application accesses the stored selected source ofratings in the memory on the user equipment. The media guidanceapplication may access the stored selected source of ratings byretrieving a link to the selected source of ratings. In someembodiments, the media guidance application may access the user profileand determine the source of ratings associated with the user profile.For example, the media guidance application may access the user profile,and retrieve from memory the tag in the user profile indicating thesource of ratings (e.g., metracritic.com), as well as the URL (e.g.,“Metacritic.com”) and the user registration information (e.g., usernameand password).

The media guidance application automatically accesses the source ofratings associated with the stored selected source of ratings. The mediaguidance application may access the source of ratings using the linksaved in the form of a URL (e.g., “www.Metacritic.com”). In someembodiments, the media guidance application may access the source ofratings by providing to the source of ratings the verified userregistration information (e.g., username and password for aMetacritic.com account).

The media guidance application automatically retrieves a set of ratingsassociated with the plurality of media asset listings from the source ofratings. The media guidance application may determine a set of mediaasset listings based on the plurality of media asset listings. The mediaguidance application may then generate a database query to access theentry of the database corresponding to each media asset listing in theset of media asset listings. In some embodiments, the set of media assetlistings is determined based on at least one of the user's viewinghistory, user's preferences as stored in the user profile, and trendingor popular media asset listings. For example, the media guidanceapplication may generate a set of media asset listings includinglistings for the media assets: “The Simpsons,” “Joe Millionaire,”Friends,” “The Bourne Identity,” and “King of the Hill,” and thengenerate a database query to access the corresponding entry of thedatabase for each media asset listing.

The media guidance application receives, from the user, a request toview a plurality of media asset listings. The request from the user maybe to view the program listings on the electronic program guide (EPG).The request may be received from a remote control via infrared signalssent to a set-top box or may be received via a mobile application on atablet or phone.

The media guidance application generates for display the plurality ofmedia asset listings and the set of ratings as requested by the user.The format of the display may be an electronic program guide,recommendation list, schedule for upcoming recordings, or other displayof media asset listings. In some embodiments, the rating associated witheach media asset listing is displayed with the media asset listing inthe electronic program guide. In other embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may provide the broadcast times of only the top-rated mediaasset listings from the plurality of program listings based on the setof ratings. For example, the media guidance application may generate fordisplay an electronic program guide where every listing in the grid ofthe program guide includes the title as well as the rating of the showin each slot. In another example, the media guidance application maydisplay a proposed schedule for the evening based on the televisionshows with the highest rating for each time slot (e.g., the media asset“The Simpsons” on Fox from 7 pm to 7:30 pm and the media asset “Will &Grace” on NBC from 7:30 pm to 8 pm). For media asset listings includedin the electronic program guide that do not have an associated rating orfor which the rating is a null value, the media guidance application maygenerate for display an indication that a rating was not found. Forexample, if the media guidance application does not retrieve a ratingassociated with the media asset “The Simpsons” from the user-selectedsource (e.g., Metacritic.com) and instead retrieves a null value, theEPG may display a blank space or replacement character (e.g., “-”)indicating that a rating was not found in the user-selected source. Asanother example, the EPG may display an alternate rating from a defaultsource of ratings (e.g., Rotten Tomatoes). The alternate rating may bevisually distinguished (e.g., alternate color, font, or size) toindicate that the rating is not from the user-selected source ofratings.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may calculate ascore for each media asset listing. The score is determined based on therating of the set of ratings associated with the media asset listing anduser preferences. After retrieving the set of ratings from the source ofratings, the media guidance application may calculate a score thatintegrates the set of ratings with the user preferences in order tocustomize the ratings that are generated for display. For example, thecalculated scores may be generated for display alongside the media assetlistings instead of the set of ratings. For another example, multipleratings (e.g., the rating received from the source of rating and thecalculated score) may be displayed with each media asset listing in theelectronic program guide.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may perform a mediaguidance function based on the set of ratings. The media guidancefunction may be setting a reminder, scheduling a recording, adding to alist of recommendations, or any other function executed by the mediaguidance application using a media asset listing as a parameter. Themedia guidance application may perform the media guidance function onany combination of the media asset listings in the plurality of mediaasset listings.

It should be noted that the systems and/or methods described above maybe applied to, or used in accordance with, other systems, methods and/orapparatuses.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects and advantages of the disclosure will beapparent upon consideration of the following detailed description, takenin conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like referencecharacters refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIG. 1 shows an illustrative example of a display screen generated by amedia guidance application, in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure;

FIG. 2 shows another illustrative example of a display screen forselecting a ratings source generated by a media guidance application, inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an illustrative user equipment device, inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an illustrative media system, in accordancewith some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of illustrative steps for receiving ratings from athird-party source of ratings, in accordance with some embodiments ofthe disclosure;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of illustrative steps for receiving and storing auser selection of a source of ratings, in accordance with someembodiments of the disclosure; and

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of illustrative steps for retrieving andgenerating for display the set of ratings from the source of ratings, inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Methods and systems are presented for selecting a preferred source ofratings (e.g., Metacritic.com) and integrating the ratings into theelectronic program guide (EPG) such as displaying the ratings alongsideprogram listings. By allowing the user to select the source of ratings,the media guidance application ensures that the ratings provided aremeaningful to the user. The media guidance application retrieves theratings from the source of ratings selected by the user and displays theretrieved ratings in the corresponding program listing so that the usermay make an informed decision about his or her television viewing. Themedia guidance application may also incorporate the retrieved ratingsinto media guidance functions such as setting reminders, schedulingrecordings, or recommending programs.

The amount of content available to users in any given content deliverysystem can be substantial. Consequently, many users desire a form ofmedia guidance through an interface that allows users to efficientlynavigate content selections and easily identify content that they maydesire. An application that provides such guidance is referred to hereinas an interactive media guidance application or, sometimes, a mediaguidance application or a guidance application.

Interactive media guidance applications may take various forms dependingon the content for which they provide guidance. One typical type ofmedia guidance application is an interactive television program guide.Interactive television program guides (sometimes referred to aselectronic program guides) are well-known guidance applications that,among other things, allow users to navigate among and locate many typesof content or media assets. Interactive media guidance applications maygenerate graphical user interface screens that enable a user to navigateamong, locate and select content. As referred to herein, the terms“media asset” and “content” should be understood to mean anelectronically consumable user asset, such as television programming, aswell as pay-per-view programs, on-demand programs (as in video-on-demand(VOD) systems), Internet content (e.g., streaming content, downloadablecontent, Webcasts, etc.), video clips, audio, content information,pictures, rotating images, documents, playlists, websites, articles,books, electronic books, blogs, chat sessions, social media,applications, games, and/or any other media or multimedia and/orcombination of the same. Guidance applications also allow users tonavigate among and locate content. As referred to herein, the term“multimedia” should be understood to mean content that utilizes at leasttwo different content forms described above, for example, text, audio,images, video, or interactivity content forms. Content may be recorded,played, displayed or accessed by user equipment devices, but can also bepart of a live performance.

The media guidance application and/or any instructions for performingany of the embodiments discussed herein may be encoded oncomputer-readable media. Computer-readable media includes any mediacapable of storing data. The computer-readable media may be transitory,including, but not limited to, propagating electrical or electromagneticsignals, or may be non-transitory, including, but not limited to,volatile and non-volatile computer memory or storage devices such as ahard disk, floppy disk, USB drive, DVD, CD, media cards, registermemory, processor caches, Random Access Memory (“RAM”), etc.

With the advent of the Internet, mobile computing, and high-speedwireless networks, users are accessing media on user equipment deviceson which they traditionally did not. As referred to herein, the phrase“user equipment device,” “user equipment,” “user device,” “electronicdevice,” “electronic equipment,” “media equipment device,” or “mediadevice” should be understood to mean any device for accessing thecontent described above, such as a television, a Smart TV, a set-topbox, an integrated receiver decoder (IRD) for handling satellitetelevision, a digital storage device, a digital media receiver (DMR), adigital media adapter (DMA), a streaming media device, a DVD player, aDVD recorder, a connected DVD, a local media server, a BLU-RAY player, aBLU-RAY recorder, a personal computer (PC), a laptop computer, a tabletcomputer, a WebTV box, a personal computer television (PC/TV), a PCmedia server, a PC media center, a hand-held computer, a stationarytelephone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile telephone, aportable video player, a portable music player, a portable gamingmachine, a smart phone, or any other television equipment, computingequipment, or wireless device, and/or combination of the same. In someembodiments, the user equipment device may have a front-facing screenand a rear-facing screen, multiple front screens, or multiple angledscreens. In some embodiments, the user equipment device may have afront-facing camera and/or a rear-facing camera. On these user equipmentdevices, users may be able to navigate among and locate the same contentavailable through a television. Consequently, media guidance may beavailable on these devices, as well. The guidance provided may be forcontent available only through a television, for content available onlythrough one or more of other types of user equipment devices, or forcontent available both through a television and one or more of the othertypes of user equipment devices. The media guidance applications may beprovided as on-line applications (i.e., provided on a website), or asstand-alone applications or clients on user equipment devices. Variousdevices and platforms that may implement media guidance applications aredescribed in more detail below.

One of the functions of the media guidance application is to providemedia guidance data to users. As referred to herein, the phrase “mediaguidance data” or “guidance data” should be understood to mean any datarelated to content or data used in operating the guidance application.For example, the guidance data may include program information, guidanceapplication settings, user preferences, user profile information, medialistings, media-related information (e.g., broadcast times, broadcastchannels, titles, descriptions, ratings information (e.g., parentalcontrol ratings, critic's ratings, etc.), genre or category information,actor information, logo data for broadcasters' or providers' logos,etc.), media format (e.g., standard definition, high definition, 3D,etc.), on-demand information, blogs, websites, and any other type ofguidance data that is helpful for a user to navigate among and locatedesired content selections.

FIGS. 1-2 show illustrative display screens that may be used to providemedia guidance data, in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure. The display screens shown in FIGS. 1-2 may be implemented onany suitable user equipment device or platform. While the displays ofFIGS. 1-2 are illustrated as full screen displays, they may also befully or partially overlaid over content being displayed. A user mayindicate a desire to access content information by selecting aselectable option provided in a display screen (e.g., a menu option, alistings option, an icon, a hyperlink, etc.) or pressing a dedicatedbutton (e.g., a GUIDE button) on a remote control or other user inputinterface or device. In response to the user's indication, the mediaguidance application may provide a display screen with media guidancedata organized in one of several ways, such as by time and channel in agrid, by time, by channel, by source, by content type, by category(e.g., movies, sports, news, children, or other categories ofprogramming), or other predefined, user-defined, or other organizationcriteria.

FIG. 1 shows an illustrative grid of a program listings display 100arranged by time and channel that also enables access to different typesof content in a single display. Display 100 may include grid 102 with(1) a column of channel/content type identifiers 104, where eachchannel/content type identifier (which is a cell in the column)identifies a different channel or content type available; and (2) a rowof time identifiers 106, where each time identifier (which is a cell inthe row) identifies a time block of programming. Grid 102 also includescells of program listings, such as program listing 108, where eachlisting provides the title of the program provided on the listing'sassociated channel and time as well as the rating 110 associated withthe program as retrieved from the third-party source of ratings. With auser input device, a user can select program listings by movinghighlight region 112. Information relating to the program listingselected by highlight region 112 may be provided in program informationregion 114. Region 114 may include, for example, the program title, theprogram description, the time the program is provided (if applicable),the channel the program is on (if applicable), the program's parentalrating, rating 116, and other desired information. Rating 116 isretrieved from the same third-party source of ratings as rating 110 andmay match rating 110. Rating 116 may include similar or differentinformation as rating 110. Both rating 110 and rating 116 are retrievedfrom the user-selected source. In some embodiments, the user-selectedsource does not include a rating 110 or rating 116 for a specific mediaasset, and returns a null value for rating 110 or rating 116. If theretrieved rating from the user-selected source is a null value, themedia guidance application may retrieve an alternate rating from adefault source of ratings and then may assign rating 110 or rating 116to be the alternate rating from the default source.

In addition to providing access to linear programming (e.g., contentthat is scheduled to be transmitted to a plurality of user equipmentdevices at a predetermined time and is provided according to aschedule), the media guidance application also provides access tonon-linear programming (e.g., content accessible to a user equipmentdevice at any time that is not provided according to a schedule).Non-linear programming may include content from different contentsources including on-demand content (e.g., VOD), Internet content (e.g.,streaming media, downloadable media, etc.), locally stored content(e.g., content stored on any user equipment device described above orother storage device), or other time-independent content. On-demandcontent may include movies or any other content provided by a particularcontent provider (e.g., HBO On Demand providing “The Sopranos” and “CurbYour Enthusiasm”). HBO ON DEMAND is a service mark owned by Time WarnerCompany L.P. et al. and THE SOPRANOS and CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM aretrademarks owned by the Home Box Office, Inc. Internet content mayinclude web events, such as a chat session or Webcast, or contentavailable on-demand as streaming content or downloadable content throughan Internet web site or other Internet access (e.g. FTP).

Grid 102 may provide media guidance data for non-linear programmingincluding on-demand listing 118, recorded content listing 120, andInternet content listing 122. A display combining media guidance datafor content from different types of content sources is sometimesreferred to as a “mixed-media” display. Various permutations of thetypes of media guidance data that may be displayed that are differentthan display 100 may be based on user selection or guidance applicationdefinition (e.g., a display of only recorded and broadcast listings,only on-demand and broadcast listings, etc.). As illustrated, listings118, 120, and 122 are shown as spanning the entire time block displayedin grid 102 to indicate that selection of these listings may provideaccess to a display dedicated to on-demand listings, recorded listings,or Internet listings, respectively. In some embodiments, listings forthese content types may be included directly in grid 102. Additionalmedia guidance data may be displayed in response to the user selectingone of the navigational icons 124. (Pressing an arrow key on a userinput device may affect the display in a similar manner as selectingnavigational icons 124.)

Display 100 may also include video region 126, and options region 128.Video region 126 may allow the user to view and/or preview programs thatare currently available, will be available, or were available to theuser. The content of video region 126 may correspond to, or beindependent from, one of the listings displayed in grid 102. Griddisplays including a video region are sometimes referred to aspicture-in-guide (PIG) displays. PIG displays and their functionalitiesare described in greater detail in Satterfield et al. U.S. Pat. No.6,564,378, issued May 13, 2003 and Yuen et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,239,794,issued May 29, 2001, which are hereby incorporated by reference hereinin their entireties. PIG displays may be included in other mediaguidance application display screens of the embodiments describedherein.

Options region 128 may allow the user to access different types ofcontent, media guidance application displays, and/or media guidanceapplication features. Options region 128 may be part of display 100 (andother display screens described herein), or may be invoked by a user byselecting an on-screen option or pressing a dedicated or assignablebutton on a user input device. The selectable options within optionsregion 128 may concern features related to program listings in grid 102or may include options available from a main menu display. Featuresrelated to program listings may include searching for other air times orways of receiving a program, recording a program, enabling seriesrecording of a program, setting program and/or channel as a favorite,purchasing a program, or other features. Options available from a mainmenu display may include search options, VOD options, parental controloptions, Internet options, cloud-based options, device synchronizationoptions, second screen device options, options to access various typesof media guidance data displays, options to subscribe to a premiumservice, options to edit a user's profile, options to access a browseoverlay, or other options.

The media guidance application may be personalized based on a user'spreferences. A personalized media guidance application allows a user tocustomize displays and features to create a personalized “experience”with the media guidance application. This personalized experience may becreated by allowing a user to input these customizations and/or by themedia guidance application monitoring user activity to determine varioususer preferences. Users may access their personalized guidanceapplication by logging in or otherwise identifying themselves to theguidance application. Customization of the media guidance applicationmay be made in accordance with a user profile. The customizations mayinclude varying presentation schemes (e.g., color scheme of displays,font size of text, etc.), aspects of content listings displayed (e.g.,only HDTV or only 3D programming, user-specified broadcast channelsbased on favorite channel selections, re-ordering the display ofchannels, recommended content, etc.), desired recording features (e.g.,recording or series recordings for particular users, recording quality,etc.), parental control settings, customized presentation of Internetcontent (e.g., presentation of social media content, e-mail,electronically delivered articles, etc.) and other desiredcustomizations.

The media guidance application may allow a user to provide user profileinformation or may automatically compile user profile information. Themedia guidance application may, for example, monitor the content theuser accesses and/or other interactions the user may have with theguidance application. Additionally, the media guidance application mayobtain all or part of other user profiles that are related to aparticular user (e.g., from other web sites on the Internet the useraccesses, such as www.allrovi.com, from other media guidanceapplications the user accesses, from other interactive applications theuser accesses, from another user equipment device of the user, etc.),and/or obtain information about the user from other sources that themedia guidance application may access. As a result, a user can beprovided with a unified guidance application experience across theuser's different user equipment devices. This type of user experience isdescribed in greater detail below in connection with FIG. 4. Additionalpersonalized media guidance application features are described ingreater detail in Ellis et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No.2005/0251827, filed Jul. 11, 2005, Boyer et al., U.S. Pat. No.7,165,098, issued Jan. 16, 2007, and Ellis et al., U.S. PatentApplication Publication No. 2002/0174430, filed Feb. 21, 2002, which arehereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties.

FIG. 2 shows a display arrangement for selecting a ratings sourcegenerated by a media guidance application. Settings display 200 includesselectable options 202, such as settings menu options 204 and 206. Indisplay 200, settings option 206 is selected, thus providing thesettings menu for the Source of Ratings, with Source of Ratings options208, 210, and 212. If the user wants an option that is not included inSource of Ratings options 208, 210, and 212, option 214, once selected,prompts the user to input the URL of a source of ratings not included inthe settings menu. The media guidance application checks the user inputby accessing the provided URL and then stores the user input as the userselection.

The media guidance application receives, from a user, a selection of asource of ratings by the user selecting one of options 208, 210, 212,214. Each of options 208, 210, and 212 represents a possible source ofratings that has been predetermined as a valid source of ratings. Forexample, option 208 may be Metacritic.com, option 210 may be InternetMovie Database, and Option 212 may be Rotten Tomatoes. Option 214represents the option for the user to input a source of rating notalready listing as one of the predetermined possible options. If theuser selects option 214, the media guidance application prompts a userto select the source of ratings by providing an option for text input.The media guidance application may receive the user input in the form oftext (e.g., “TheTVDB.com”). The media guidance application may thendetermine the corresponding source of ratings that matches the userinput by determining the source of ratings connected to the input text.If the user selects one of options 208, 210, or 212, the media guidanceapplication retrieves from memory the source of ratings associated withthe selected option.

The media guidance application automatically stores the selected option208 in memory on user equipment. To select an option, the media guidanceapplication stores a tag that indicates the option that was selected.For example, the selected option 208 is stored in memory by storing atag in the user profile that indicates that the user-selected option 208(e.g., Metacritic.com). The tag indicates the source of ratings selectedby the user by identifying the source of ratings by name, by including alink to the source of ratings, or by another means. In some embodiments,once the user selects option 208, the media guidance application mayprompt the user for user registration information such as password orother user account information. Once the media guidance applicationreceives the user registration information, the media guidanceapplication may then verify that the user registration information isvalid. The media guidance application may then store the verified userregistration information with any additional information such as a URLlinking to the selected source of ratings in the user profile connectedto the user. For example, the media guidance application may also storein the user profile, in addition to the tag indicating the user'sselection (e.g., Metacritic.com), the URL of the selected source, (e.g.,“www.Metacritic.com”) as well as the user's username and passwordassociated with the Metacritic.com account.

The media guidance application accesses the stored selected source ofratings in the memory on the user equipment. The media guidanceapplication may access the stored selected source of ratingsperiodically, or in response to user input. The media guidanceapplication may access the stored selected source of ratings byretrieving a link to the selected source of ratings. In someembodiments, the media guidance application may access the user profileand determine the source of ratings associated with the user profile.For example, the media guidance application may access the user profile,retrieve from memory the tag in the user profile indicating the sourceof ratings (e.g., metracritic.com), as well as the URL (e.g.,“Metacritic.com”), and the user registration information (e.g., usernameand password).

The media guidance application automatically accesses the source ofratings associated with the stored selected source of ratings. The mediaguidance application may access the source of ratings using the linksaved in the form of a URL (e.g., “www.Metacritic.com”). The mediaguidance application may access the stored selected source of ratingsperiodically, or in response to user input. In some embodiments, themedia guidance application may access the source of ratings by providingto the source of ratings the verified user registration information(e.g., username and password for a Metacritic.com account).

The media guidance application automatically retrieves a set of ratingsassociated with the plurality of media asset listings from the source ofratings. The media guidance application may determine a set of mediaasset listings based on the plurality of media asset listings stored inthe media guidance data source 416. The set of media asset listings isdetermined based on the media asset listings displayed to the user andis a subset of the plurality of media asset listings. The media guidanceapplication may then generate a database query to access the entry ofthe database corresponding to each media asset listing in the set ofmedia asset listings. In some embodiments, the database may not includean entry corresponding to a media asset listing in the set of mediaasset listings. If no entry is found in the database, the retrievedrating will be represented by a null value. In some embodiments, if theretrieved rating is a null value, the media guidance application mayretrieve an alternate rating associated with the corresponding mediaasset listing from a default source of ratings. In some embodiments, theset of media asset listings is determined based on at least one of theuser's viewing history, user's preferences as stored in the userprofile, and trending or popular media asset listings. For example, themedia guidance application may generate a set of media asset listingsincluding listings for the media assets: The Simpsons, Joe Millionaire,Friends, The Bourne Identity, and King of the Hill, and then generate adatabase query to access the corresponding entry of the database foreach media asset listing.

The media guidance application receives, from the user, a request toview a plurality of media asset listings. The request from the user maybe to view the program listings on the electronic program guide (EPG).The request may include the user requesting to access the programschedule or information about a specific media asset as shown in FIG. 1.The request may be received from a remote control via infrared signalssent to a set-top box or may be received via a mobile application on atablet or phone.

The media guidance application generates for display the plurality ofmedia asset listings and the set of ratings, as requested by the user.The format of the display may be an electronic program guide,recommendation list, schedule for upcoming recordings, or other displayof media asset listings. In some embodiments, the rating (e.g., rating110 or rating 116) associated with each media asset listing is displayedwith the media asset listing in the electronic program guide (e.g.,display 100). In other embodiments, the media guidance application mayprovide the broadcast times of only the top rated media asset listingsfrom the plurality of program listings based on the set of ratings. Forexample, the media guidance application may generate for display anelectronic program guide were every listing in the grid of the programguide includes the title as well as the rating (e.g., rating 110 orrating 116) of the show in each slot. In another example, the mediaguidance application may display a proposed schedule for the eveningbased on the television shows with the highest rating (e.g., rating 110or rating 116) for each time slot (e.g., the media asset “The Simpsons”on Fox from 7 pm to 7:30 pm and the media asset “Will & Grace” on NBCfrom 7:30 pm to 8 pm). For media asset listings included in theelectronic program guide that do not have an associated rating (e.g.,rating 110 or rating 116) or for which the rating (e.g., rating 110 orrating 116) is a null value, the media guidance application may generatefor display an indication that a rating (e.g., rating 110 or rating 116)was not found. For example, if the media guidance application does notretrieve a rating (e.g., rating 110 or rating 116) associated with themedia asset “The Simpsons” from the user-selected source (e.g.,Metacritic.com) and instead retrieves a null value, the EPG may displaya blank space or replacement character (e.g., “-”) indicating that arating (e.g., rating 110 or rating 116) was not found in theuser-selected source (e.g., selected option 208). As another example,the EPG may display an alternate rating from a default source of ratings(e.g., Rotten Tomatoes). The alternate rating may be visuallydistinguished from the ratings retrieved from the user-selected sourceof ratings (e.g., via alternate color, font, or size) to indicate thatthe rating is not from the user-selected source of ratings.

Users may access content and the media guidance application (and itsdisplay screens described above and below) from one or more of theiruser equipment devices. FIG. 3 shows a generalized embodiment ofillustrative user equipment device 300. More specific implementations ofuser equipment devices are discussed below in connection with FIG. 4.User equipment device 300 may receive content and data via input/output(hereinafter “I/O”) path 302. I/O path 302 may provide content (e.g.,broadcast programming, on-demand programming, Internet content, contentavailable over a local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN),and/or other content) and data to control circuitry 304, which includesprocessing circuitry 306 and storage 308. Control circuitry 304 may beused to send and receive commands, requests, and other suitable datausing I/O path 302. I/O path 302 may connect control circuitry 304 (andspecifically processing circuitry 306) to one or more communicationspaths (described below). I/O functions may be provided by one or more ofthese communications paths, but are shown as a single path in FIG. 3 toavoid overcomplicating the drawing.

Control circuitry 304 may be based on any suitable processing circuitrysuch as processing circuitry 306. As referred to herein, processingcircuitry should be understood to mean circuitry based on one or moremicroprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signal processors,programmable logic devices, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs),application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc., and may includea multi-core processor (e.g., dual-core, quad-core, hexa-core, or anysuitable number of cores) or supercomputer. In some embodiments,processing circuitry may be distributed across multiple separateprocessors or processing units, for example, multiple of the same typeof processing units (e.g., two Intel Core i7 processors) or multipledifferent processors (e.g., an Intel Core i5 processor and an Intel Corei7 processor). In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 executesinstructions for a media guidance application stored in memory (i.e.,storage 308). Specifically, control circuitry 304 may be instructed bythe media guidance application to perform the functions discussed aboveand below. For example, the media guidance application may provideinstructions to control circuitry 304 to generate the media guidancedisplays. In some implementations, any action performed by controlcircuitry 304 may be based on instructions received from the mediaguidance application.

In client-server-based embodiments, control circuitry 304 may includecommunications circuitry suitable for communicating with a guidanceapplication server or other networks or servers. The instructions forcarrying out the above mentioned functionality may be stored on theguidance application server. Communications circuitry may include acable modem, an integrated services digital network (ISDN) modem, adigital subscriber line (DSL) modem, a telephone modem, Ethernet card,or a wireless modem for communications with other equipment, or anyother suitable communications circuitry. Such communications may involvethe Internet or any other suitable communications networks or paths(which is described in more detail in connection with FIG. 4). Inaddition, communications circuitry may include circuitry that enablespeer-to-peer communication of user equipment devices, or communicationof user equipment devices in locations remote from each other (describedin more detail below).

Memory may be an electronic storage device provided as storage 308 thatis part of control circuitry 304. As referred to herein, the phrase“electronic storage device” or “storage device” should be understood tomean any device for storing electronic data, computer software, orfirmware, such as random-access memory, read-only memory, hard drives,optical drives, digital video disc (DVD) recorders, compact disc (CD)recorders, BLU-RAY disc (BD) recorders, BLU-RAY 3D disc recorders,digital video recorders (DVR, sometimes called a personal videorecorder, or PVR), solid state devices, quantum storage devices, gamingconsoles, gaming media, or any other suitable fixed or removable storagedevices, and/or any combination of the same. Storage 308 may be used tostore various types of content described herein as well as mediaguidance data described above. Nonvolatile memory may also be used(e.g., to launch a boot-up routine and other instructions). Cloud-basedstorage, described in relation to FIG. 4, may be used to supplementstorage 308 or instead of storage 308.

Control circuitry 304 may include video-generating circuitry and tuningcircuitry, such as one or more analog tuners, one or more MPEG-2decoders or other digital decoding circuitry, high-definition tuners, orany other suitable tuning or video circuits or combinations of suchcircuits. Encoding circuitry (e.g., for converting over-the-air, analog,or digital signals to MPEG signals for storage) may also be provided.Control circuitry 304 may also include scaler circuitry for upconvertingand downconverting content into the preferred output format of the userequipment 300. Circuitry 304 may also include digital-to-analogconverter circuitry and analog-to-digital converter circuitry forconverting between digital and analog signals. The tuning and encodingcircuitry may be used by the user equipment device to receive and todisplay, to play, or to record content. The tuning and encodingcircuitry may also be used to receive guidance data. The circuitrydescribed herein, including for example, the tuning, video-generating,encoding, decoding, encrypting, decrypting, scaler, and analog/digitalcircuitry, may be implemented using software running on one or moregeneral purpose or specialized processors. Multiple tuners may beprovided to handle simultaneous tuning functions (e.g., watch-and-recordfunctions, picture-in-picture (PIP) functions, multiple-tuner recording,etc.). If storage 308 is provided as a separate device from userequipment 300, the tuning and encoding circuitry (including multipletuners) may be associated with storage 308.

A user may send instructions to control circuitry 304 using user inputinterface 310. User input interface 310 may be any suitable userinterface, such as a remote control, mouse, trackball, keypad, keyboard,touch screen, touchpad, stylus input, joystick, voice recognitioninterface, or other user input interfaces. Display 312 may be providedas a stand-alone device or integrated with other elements of userequipment device 300. For example, display 312 may be a touchscreen ortouch-sensitive display. In such circumstances, user input interface 310may be integrated with or combined with display 312. Display 312 may beone or more of a monitor, a television, a liquid crystal display (LCD)for a mobile device, amorphous silicon display, low temperaturepolysilicon display, electronic ink display, electrophoretic display,active matrix display, electro-wetting display, electrofluidic display,cathode ray tube display, light-emitting diode display,electroluminescent display, plasma display panel, high-performanceaddressing display, thin-film transistor display, organic light-emittingdiode display, surface-conduction electron-emitter display (SED), lasertelevision, carbon nanotubes, quantum dot display, interferometricmodulator display, or any other suitable equipment for displaying visualimages. In some embodiments, display 312 may be HDTV-capable. In someembodiments, display 312 may be a 3D display, and the interactive mediaguidance application and any suitable content may be displayed in 3D. Avideo card or graphics card may generate the output to the display 312.The video card may offer various functions such as accelerated renderingof 3D scenes and 2D graphics, MPEG-2/MPEG-4 decoding, TV output, or theability to connect multiple monitors. The video card may be anyprocessing circuitry described above in relation to control circuitry304. The video card may be integrated with the control circuitry 304.Speakers 314 may be provided as integrated with other elements of userequipment device 300 or may be stand-alone units. The audio component ofvideos and other content displayed on display 312 may be played throughspeakers 314. In some embodiments, the audio may be distributed to areceiver (not shown) that processes and outputs the audio via speakers314.

The guidance application may be implemented using any suitablearchitecture. For example, it may be a stand-alone application whollyimplemented on user equipment device 300. In such an approach,instructions of the application are stored locally (e.g., in storage308), and data for use by the application is downloaded on a periodicbasis (e.g., from an out-of-band feed, from an Internet resource, orusing another suitable approach). Control circuitry 304 may retrieveinstructions of the application from storage 308 and process theinstructions to generate any of the displays discussed herein. Based onthe processed instructions, control circuitry 304 may determine whataction to perform when input is received from input interface 310. Forexample, movement of a cursor on a display up/down may be indicated bythe processed instructions when input interface 310 indicates that anup/down button was selected.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application is aclient-server-based application. Data for use by a thick or thin clientimplemented on user equipment device 300 is retrieved on-demand byissuing requests to a server remote to the user equipment device 300. Inone example of a client-server-based guidance application, controlcircuitry 304 runs a web browser that interprets web pages provided by aremote server. For example, the remote server may store the instructionsfor the application in a storage device. The remote server may processthe stored instructions using circuitry (e.g., control circuitry 304)and generate the displays discussed above and below. The client devicemay receive the displays generated by the remote server and may displaythe content of the displays locally on equipment device 300. This way,the processing of the instructions is performed remotely by the serverwhile the resulting displays are provided locally on equipment device300. Equipment device 300 may receive inputs from the user via inputinterface 310 and transmit those inputs to the remote server forprocessing and generating the corresponding displays. For example,equipment device 300 may transmit a communication to the remote serverindicating that an up/down button was selected via input interface 310.The remote server may process instructions in accordance with that inputand generate a display of the application corresponding to the input(e.g., a display that moves a cursor up/down). The generated display isthen transmitted to equipment device 300 for presentation to the user.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application is downloaded andinterpreted or otherwise run by an interpreter or virtual machine (runby control circuitry 304). In some embodiments, the guidance applicationmay be encoded in the ETV Binary Interchange Format (EBIF), received bycontrol circuitry 304 as part of a suitable feed, and interpreted by auser agent running on control circuitry 304. For example, the guidanceapplication may be an EBIF application. In some embodiments, theguidance application may be defined by a series of JAVA-based files thatare received and run by a local virtual machine or other suitablemiddleware executed by control circuitry 304. In some of suchembodiments (e.g., those employing MPEG-2 or other digital mediaencoding schemes), the guidance application may be, for example, encodedand transmitted in an MPEG-2 object carousel with the MPEG audio andvideo packets of a program.

User equipment device 300 of FIG. 3 can be implemented in system 400 ofFIG. 4 as user television equipment 402, user computer equipment 404,wireless user communications device 406, or any other type of userequipment suitable for accessing content, such as a non-portable gamingmachine. For simplicity, these devices may be referred to hereincollectively as user equipment or user equipment devices, and may besubstantially similar to user equipment devices described above. Userequipment devices, on which a media guidance application may beimplemented, may function as a standalone device or may be part of anetwork of devices. Various network configurations of devices may beimplemented and are discussed in more detail below.

A user equipment device utilizing at least some of the system featuresdescribed above in connection with FIG. 3 may not be classified solelyas user television equipment 402, user computer equipment 404, or awireless user communications device 406. For example, user televisionequipment 402 may, like some user computer equipment 404, beInternet-enabled allowing for access to Internet content, while usercomputer equipment 404 may, like some television equipment 402, includea tuner allowing for access to television programming. The mediaguidance application may have the same layout on various different typesof user equipment or may be tailored to the display capabilities of theuser equipment. For example, on user computer equipment 404, theguidance application may be provided as a web site accessed by a webbrowser. In another example, the guidance application may be scaled downfor wireless user communications devices 406.

In system 400, there is typically more than one of each type of userequipment device but only one of each is shown in FIG. 4 to avoidovercomplicating the drawing. In addition, each user may utilize morethan one type of user equipment device and also more than one of eachtype of user equipment device.

In some embodiments, a user equipment device (e.g., user televisionequipment 402, user computer equipment 404, wireless user communicationsdevice 406) may be referred to as a “second screen device.” For example,a second screen device may supplement content presented on a first userequipment device. The content presented on the second screen device maybe any suitable content that supplements the content presented on thefirst device. In some embodiments, the second screen device provides aninterface for adjusting settings and display preferences of the firstdevice. In some embodiments, the second screen device is configured forinteracting with other second screen devices or for interacting with asocial network. The second screen device can be located in the same roomas the first device, a different room from the first device but in thesame house or building, or in a different building from the firstdevice.

The user may also set various settings to maintain consistent mediaguidance application settings across in-home devices and remote devices.Settings include those described herein, as well as channel and programfavorites, programming preferences that the guidance applicationutilizes to make programming recommendations, display preferences, andother desirable guidance settings. For example, if a user sets a channelas a favorite on, for example, the web site www.allrovi.com on hispersonal computer at his office, the same channel would appear as afavorite on the user's in-home devices (e.g., user television equipmentand user computer equipment) as well as the user's mobile devices, ifdesired. Therefore, changes made on one user equipment device can changethe guidance experience on another user equipment device, regardless ofwhether it is the same or a different type of user equipment device. Inaddition, the changes made may be based on settings input by a user, aswell as user activity monitored by the guidance application.

The user equipment devices may be coupled to communications network 414.Namely, user television equipment 402, user computer equipment 404, andwireless user communications device 406 are coupled to communicationsnetwork 414 via communications paths 408, 410, and 412, respectively.Communications network 414 may be one or more networks including theInternet, a mobile phone network, mobile voice or data network (e.g., a4G or LTE network), cable network, public switched telephone network, orother types of communications network or combinations of communicationsnetworks. Paths 408, 410, and 412 may separately or together include oneor more communications paths, such as a satellite path, a fiber-opticpath, a cable path, a path that supports Internet communications (e.g.,IPTV), free-space connections (e.g., for broadcast or other wirelesssignals), or any other suitable wired or wireless communications path orcombination of such paths. Path 412 is drawn with dotted lines toindicate that in the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 4 it is awireless path and paths 408 and 410 are drawn as solid lines to indicatethey are wired paths (although these paths may be wireless paths, ifdesired). Communications with the user equipment devices may be providedby one or more of these communications paths, but are shown as a singlepath in FIG. 4 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing.

Although communications paths are not drawn between user equipmentdevices, these devices may communicate directly with each other viacommunication paths, such as those described above in connection withpaths 408, 410, and 412, as well as other short-range point-to-pointcommunication paths, such as USB cables, IEEE 1394 cables, wirelesspaths (e.g., Bluetooth, infrared, IEEE 802-11x, etc.), or othershort-range communication via wired or wireless paths. BLUETOOTH is acertification mark owned by Bluetooth SIG, INC. The user equipmentdevices may also communicate with each other directly through anindirect path via communications network 414.

System 400 includes content source 416 and media guidance data source418 coupled to communications network 414 via communication paths 420and 422, respectively. Paths 420 and 422 may include any of thecommunication paths described above in connection with paths 408, 410,and 412. Communications with the content source 416 and media guidancedata source 418 may be exchanged over one or more communications paths,but are shown as a single path in FIG. 4 to avoid overcomplicating thedrawing. In addition, there may be more than one of each of contentsource 416 and media guidance data source 418, but only one of each isshown in FIG. 4 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing. (The differenttypes of each of these sources are discussed below.) If desired, contentsource 416 and media guidance data source 418 may be integrated as onesource device. Although communications between sources 416 and 418 withuser equipment devices 402, 404, and 406 are shown as throughcommunications network 414, in some embodiments, sources 416 and 418 maycommunicate directly with user equipment devices 402, 404, and 406 viacommunication paths (not shown) such as those described above inconnection with paths 408, 410, and 412.

Content source 416 may include one or more types of content distributionequipment including a television distribution facility, cable systemheadend, satellite distribution facility, programming sources (e.g.,television broadcasters, such as NBC, ABC, HBO, etc.), intermediatedistribution facilities and/or servers, Internet providers, on-demandmedia servers, and other content providers. NBC is a trademark owned bythe National Broadcasting Company, Inc., ABC is a trademark owned by theAmerican Broadcasting Company, Inc., and HBO is a trademark owned by theHome Box Office, Inc. Content source 416 may be the originator ofcontent (e.g., a television broadcaster, a Webcast provider, etc.) ormay not be the originator of content (e.g., an on-demand contentprovider, an Internet provider of content of broadcast programs fordownloading, etc.). Content source 416 may include cable sources,satellite providers, on-demand providers, Internet providers,over-the-top content providers, or other providers of content. Contentsource 416 may also include a remote media server used to storedifferent types of content (including video content selected by a user),in a location remote from any of the user equipment devices. Systems andmethods for remote storage of content, and providing remotely storedcontent to user equipment are discussed in greater detail in connectionwith Ellis et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,761,892, issued Jul. 20, 2010, whichis hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

Media guidance data source 418 may provide media guidance data, such asthe media guidance data described above. Media guidance data may beprovided to the user equipment devices using any suitable approach. Insome embodiments, the guidance application may be a stand-aloneinteractive television program guide that receives program guide datavia a data feed (e.g., a continuous feed or trickle feed). Programschedule data and other guidance data may be provided to the userequipment on a television channel sideband, using an in-band digitalsignal, using an out-of-band digital signal, or by any other suitabledata transmission technique. Program schedule data and other mediaguidance data may be provided to user equipment on multiple analog ordigital television channels.

In some embodiments, guidance data from media guidance data source 418may be provided to users' equipment using a client-server approach. Forexample, a user equipment device may pull media guidance data from aserver, or a server may push media guidance data to a user equipmentdevice. In some embodiments, a guidance application client residing onthe user's equipment may initiate sessions with source 418 to obtainguidance data when needed, e.g., when the guidance data is out of dateor when the user equipment device receives a request from the user toreceive data. Media guidance may be provided to the user equipment withany suitable frequency (e.g., continuously, daily, a user-specifiedperiod of time, a system-specified period of time, in response to arequest from user equipment, etc.). Media guidance data source 418 mayprovide user equipment devices 402, 404, and 406 the media guidanceapplication itself or software updates for the media guidanceapplication.

In some embodiments, the media guidance data may include viewer data.For example, the viewer data may include current and/or historical useractivity information (e.g., what content the user typically watches,what times of day the user watches content, whether the user interactswith a social network, at what times the user interacts with a socialnetwork to post information, what types of content the user typicallywatches (e.g., pay TV or free TV), mood, brain activity information,etc.). The media guidance data may also include subscription data. Forexample, the subscription data may identify to which sources or servicesa given user subscribes and/or to which sources or services the givenuser has previously subscribed but later terminated access (e.g.,whether the user subscribes to premium channels, whether the user hasadded a premium level of services, whether the user has increasedInternet speed). In some embodiments, the viewer data and/or thesubscription data may identify patterns of a given user for a period ofmore than one year. The media guidance data may include a model (e.g., asurvivor model) used for generating a score that indicates a likelihooda given user will terminate access to a service/source. For example, themedia guidance application may process the viewer data with thesubscription data using the model to generate a value or score thatindicates a likelihood of whether the given user will terminate accessto a particular service or source. In particular, a higher score mayindicate a higher level of confidence that the user will terminateaccess to a particular service or source. Based on the score, the mediaguidance application may generate promotions that entice the user tokeep the particular service or source indicated by the score as one towhich the user will likely terminate access.

Media guidance applications may be, for example, stand-aloneapplications implemented on user equipment devices. For example, themedia guidance application may be implemented as software or a set ofexecutable instructions that may be stored in storage 308, and executedby control circuitry 304 of a user equipment device 300. In someembodiments, media guidance applications may be client-serverapplications where only a client application resides on the userequipment device, and a server application resides on a remote server.For example, media guidance applications may be implemented partially asa client application on control circuitry 304 of user equipment device300 and partially on a remote server as a server application (e.g.,media guidance data source 418) running on control circuitry of theremote server. When executed by control circuitry of the remote server(such as media guidance data source 418), the media guidance applicationmay instruct the control circuitry to generate the guidance applicationdisplays and transmit the generated displays to the user equipmentdevices. The server application may instruct the control circuitry ofthe media guidance data source 418 to transmit data for storage on theuser equipment. The client application may instruct control circuitry ofthe receiving user equipment to generate the guidance applicationdisplays.

Content and/or media guidance data delivered to user equipment devices402, 404, and 406 may be over-the-top (OTT) content. OTT contentdelivery allows Internet-enabled user devices, including any userequipment device described above, to receive content that is transferredover the Internet, including any content described above, in addition tocontent received over cable or satellite connections. OTT content isdelivered via an Internet connection provided by an Internet serviceprovider (ISP), but a third party distributes the content. The ISP maynot be responsible for the viewing abilities, copyrights, orredistribution of the content, and may only transfer IP packets providedby the OTT content provider. Examples of OTT content providers includeYOUTUBE, NETFLIX, and HULU, which provide audio and video via IPpackets. YouTube is a trademark owned by Google Inc., Netflix is atrademark owned by Netflix Inc., and Hulu is a trademark owned by Hulu,LLC. OTT content providers may additionally or alternatively providemedia guidance data described above. In addition to content and/or mediaguidance data, providers of OTT content can distribute media guidanceapplications (e.g., web-based applications or cloud-based applications),or the content can be displayed by media guidance applications stored onthe user equipment device.

Media guidance system 400 is intended to illustrate a number ofapproaches, or network configurations, by which user equipment devicesand sources of content and guidance data may communicate with each otherfor the purpose of accessing content and providing media guidance. Theembodiments described herein may be applied in any one or a subset ofthese approaches, or in a system employing other approaches fordelivering content and providing media guidance. The following fourapproaches provide specific illustrations of the generalized example ofFIG. 4.

In one approach, user equipment devices may communicate with each otherwithin a home network. User equipment devices can communicate with eachother directly via short-range point-to-point communication schemesdescribed above, via indirect paths through a hub or other similardevice provided on a home network, or via communications network 414.Each of the multiple individuals in a single home may operate differentuser equipment devices on the home network. As a result, it may bedesirable for various media guidance information or settings to becommunicated between the different user equipment devices. For example,it may be desirable for users to maintain consistent media guidanceapplication settings on different user equipment devices within a homenetwork, as described in greater detail in Ellis et al., U.S. PatentPublication No. 2005/0251827, filed Jul. 11, 2005. Different types ofuser equipment devices in a home network may also communicate with eachother to transmit content. For example, a user may transmit content fromuser computer equipment to a portable video player or portable musicplayer.

In a second approach, users may have multiple types of user equipment bywhich they access content and obtain media guidance. For example, someusers may have home networks that are accessed by in-home and mobiledevices. Users may control in-home devices via a media guidanceapplication implemented on a remote device. For example, users mayaccess an online media guidance application on a website via a personalcomputer at their office, or a mobile device such as a PDA orweb-enabled mobile telephone. The user may set various settings (e.g.,recordings, reminders, or other settings) on the online guidanceapplication to control the user's in-home equipment. The online guidemay control the user's equipment directly, or by communicating with amedia guidance application on the user's in-home equipment. Varioussystems and methods for user equipment devices communicating, where theuser equipment devices are in locations remote from each other, isdiscussed in, for example, Ellis et al., U.S. Pat. No. 8,046,801, issuedOct. 25, 2011, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in itsentirety.

In a third approach, users of user equipment devices inside and outsidea home can use their media guidance application to communicate directlywith content source 416 to access content. Specifically, within a home,users of user television equipment 402 and user computer equipment 404may access the media guidance application to navigate among and locatedesirable content. Users may also access the media guidance applicationoutside of the home using wireless user communications devices 406 tonavigate among and locate desirable content.

In a fourth approach, user equipment devices may operate in a cloudcomputing environment to access cloud services. In a cloud computingenvironment, various types of computing services for content sharing,storage or distribution (e.g., video sharing sites or social networkingsites) are provided by a collection of network-accessible computing andstorage resources, referred to as “the cloud.” For example, the cloudcan include a collection of server computing devices, which may belocated centrally or at distributed locations, that provide cloud-basedservices to various types of users and devices connected via a networksuch as the Internet via communications network 414. These cloudresources may include one or more content sources 416 and one or moremedia guidance data sources 418. In addition or in the alternative, theremote computing sites may include other user equipment devices, such asuser television equipment 402, user computer equipment 404, and wirelessuser communications device 406. For example, the other user equipmentdevices may provide access to a stored copy of a video or a streamedvideo. In such embodiments, user equipment devices may operate in apeer-to-peer manner without communicating with a central server.

The cloud provides access to services, such as content storage, contentsharing, or social networking services, among other examples, as well asaccess to any content described above, for user equipment devices.Services can be provided in the cloud through cloud computing serviceproviders, or through other providers of online services. For example,the cloud-based services can include a content storage service, acontent sharing site, a social networking site, or other services viawhich user-sourced content is distributed for viewing by others onconnected devices. These cloud-based services may allow a user equipmentdevice to store content to the cloud and to receive content from thecloud rather than storing content locally and accessing locally storedcontent.

A user may use various content capture devices, such as camcorders,digital cameras with video mode, audio recorders, mobile phones, andhandheld computing devices, to record content. The user can uploadcontent to a content storage service on the cloud either directly, forexample, from user computer equipment 404 or wireless usercommunications device 406 having a content capture feature.Alternatively, the user can first transfer the content to a userequipment device, such as user computer equipment 404. The userequipment device storing the content uploads the content to the cloudusing a data transmission service on communications network 414. In someembodiments, the user equipment device itself is a cloud resource, andother user equipment devices can access the content directly from theuser equipment device on which the user stored the content.

Cloud resources may be accessed by a user equipment device using, forexample, a web browser, a media guidance application, a desktopapplication, a mobile application, and/or any combination of accessapplications of the same. The user equipment device may be a cloudclient that relies on cloud computing for application delivery, or theuser equipment device may have some functionality without access tocloud resources. For example, some applications running on the userequipment device may be cloud applications, i.e., applications deliveredas a service over the Internet, while other applications may be storedand run on the user equipment device. In some embodiments, a user devicemay receive content from multiple cloud resources simultaneously. Forexample, a user device can stream audio from one cloud resource whiledownloading content from a second cloud resource. Or a user device candownload content from multiple cloud resources for more efficientdownloading. In some embodiments, user equipment devices can use cloudresources for processing operations such as the processing operationsperformed by processing circuitry described in relation to FIG. 3.

As referred herein, the term “in response to” refers to initiated as aresult of. For example, a first action being performed in response to asecond action may include interstitial steps between the first actionand the second action. As referred herein, the term “directly inresponse to” refers to caused by. For example, a first action beingperformed directly in response to a second action may not includeinterstitial steps between the first action and the second action.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application receives, from theuser, a selected source of ratings indicating a preference for aspecific source of ratings to be displayed in the EPG. The mediaguidance application may save the selected source of ratings in a userprofile. If the user navigates the EPG to a schedule of media assetlistings, the media guidance application retrieves, from the savedsource of ratings, a set of ratings to be displayed alongside the mediaasset listings in the EPG display.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of illustrative steps for receiving ratings from athird-party source of ratings, in accordance with some embodiments ofthe disclosure.

At 502, the media guidance application receives, from a user (e.g., viauser input interface 310), a selection of a source of ratings (e.g.,selected option 208). The source of ratings includes a database of aplurality of ratings, and each rating of the plurality of ratings isassociated with a media asset identifier. The source of ratings may bean online ratings provider such as Metacritic.com, Rotten Tomatoes, orInternet Movie Database. In one embodiment, the media guidanceapplication may prompt a user (e.g., via display 312) to select thesource of ratings by providing an option for text input (e.g., option214) or a list of suggested options (e.g., options 208, 210, 212). Themedia guidance application may receive the user input (e.g., via userinput interface 310) in the form of text (e.g., “www.Metacritic.com”) orthe selection of an option in a list of options (e.g., options 208, 210,212). The media guidance application may then determine (e.g., viacontrol circuitry 304) the corresponding source of ratings that matchesthe user input by either determining the source of ratings connected tothe input text, or retrieving from memory the link associated with theselected option. For example, the user may select Metacritic.com from alist of options (e.g., options 208, 210, 212) including Metacritic.com,Rotten Tomatoes, and Internet Movie Database.

At 504, the media guidance application automatically stores the selectedsource of ratings in memory on user equipment (e.g., storage 308). Theselection is stored in memory by storing a tag (e.g., storage 308). Thetag indicates the source of ratings selected by the user by identifyingthe source of ratings by name, by including a link to the source ofratings, or by another means. The selection may be stored in associationwith the specific user by storing the tag indicating the selection withthe user profile associated with the user. In some embodiments, themedia guidance application may receive, from the user (e.g., via userinput interface 310), user registration information such as password orother user account information. The media guidance application may thenverify (e.g., via control circuitry 304) that the user registrationinformation is valid and store the verified user registrationinformation with any additional information such as a URL linking to theselected source of ratings in the user profile connected to the user.For example, the media guidance application may include in the userprofile that the user has selected Metacritic.com by indicating the URL“www.Metacritic.com,” as well as the user's username and passwordassociated with the Metacritic.com account.

At 506, the media guidance application accesses (e.g., via controlcircuitry 304) the stored selected source of ratings in the memory(e.g., storage 308) on the user equipment (e.g., user televisionequipment 402, user computer equipment 404, or wireless usercommunication device 406). The media guidance application may access thestored selected source of ratings periodically, or in response to userinput. The media guidance application may access the stored selectedsource of ratings when the media guidance application determines thatthe user is watching a program and browsing other listings via anoverlay. The media guidance application may access the stored selectedsource of ratings by retrieving a link to the selected source ofratings. In some embodiments, the media guidance application may accessthe user profile and determine the source of ratings associated with theuser profile. For example, the media guidance application may access theuser profile, retrieve from memory the tag in the user profileindicating the source of ratings (e.g., metracritic.com), as well as theURL (e.g., “Metacritic.com”) and the user registration information(e.g., username and password).

At 508, the media guidance application automatically accesses (e.g., viacommunication network 414) the source of ratings associated with thestored selected source of ratings (e.g., selected option 208). The mediaguidance application may access the source of ratings using the linksaved in the form of a URL (e.g., “www.Metacritic.com”). In someembodiments, the media guidance application may access the source ofratings by providing to the source of ratings the verified userregistration information (e.g., username and password for aMetacritic.com account).

At 510, the media guidance application automatically retrieves (e.g.,via communication network 414) a set of ratings associated with theplurality of media asset listings from the source of ratings. The mediaguidance application may determine a set of media asset listings basedon the plurality of media asset listings stored in the media guidancedata source 416. The set of media asset listings is determined based onthe media asset listings displayed to the user and is a subset of theplurality of media asset listings. For example, if the user is watchinga program and browsing other listings via the overlay, the mediaguidance application may determine a set of media asset listings,including the currently displayed media asset listing, as well as theadjacent media asset listings, so that the media asset listings andretrieved ratings may be available if the user navigates the adjacentlistings. The media guidance application may then generate a databasequery to access the entry of the database corresponding to each mediaasset listing in the set of media asset listings. In some embodiments,the set of media asset listings is determined based on at least one ofthe user's viewing history, user's preferences as stored in the userprofile, and trending or popular media asset listings. For example, themedia guidance application may generate a set of media asset listingsincluding listings for the media assets: “The Simpsons,” “JoeMillionaire,” Friends,” “The Bourne Identity,” and “King of the Hill”and then generate a database query to access the corresponding entry ofthe database for each media asset listing.

At 512, the media guidance application receives from the user (e.g., viauser input interface 310) a request to view a plurality of media assetlistings (e.g., display 100). The request from the user may be to viewthe program listings on the electronic program guide (EPG) (e.g., viadisplay 312). The request may include the user requesting to access theprogram schedule or information about a specific media asset as shown inFIG. 1. The request may be received to display the media asset listingson user television equipment 402, user computer equipment 404, orwireless user communication device 406. The request may be receivedafter the user has selected the source of ratings.

At 514, the media guidance application generates for display (e.g., ondisplay 312) the plurality of media asset listings and the set ofratings (e.g., display 100). The format of the display may be anelectronic program guide, recommendation list, schedule for upcomingrecordings, or other display of media asset listings. In someembodiments, the rating (e.g., rating 110 or rating 116) associated witheach media asset listing is displayed with the media asset listing inthe electronic program guide (e.g., display 100). In other embodiments,the media guidance application may provide the broadcast times of onlythe top-rated media asset listings from the plurality of programlistings based on the set of ratings. For example, the media guidanceapplication may generate for display an electronic program guide whereevery listing in the grid of the program guide includes the title aswell as the rating (e.g., rating 110 or rating 116) of the show in eachslot. In another example, the media guidance application may display aproposed schedule for the evening based on the television shows with thehighest rating for each time slot (e.g., the media asset “The Simpsons”on Fox from 7 pm to 7:30 pm and the media asset “Will & Grace” on NBCfrom 7:30 pm to 8 pm). For media asset listings included in theelectronic program guide that do not have an associated rating (e.g.,rating 110 or rating 116) or for which the rating is a null value, themedia guidance application may generate for display an indication that arating was not found. For example, if the media guidance applicationdoes not retrieve a rating associated with the media asset “TheSimpsons” from the user-selected source (e.g., Metacritic.com) andinstead retrieves a null value, the EPG may display a blank space orreplacement character (e.g., “-”) indicating that a rating was not foundin the user-selected source. As another example, the EPG may display analternate rating from a default source of ratings (e.g., RottenTomatoes). The alternate rating may be visually distinguished (e.g.,alternate color, font, or size) to indicate that the rating is not fromthe user-selected source of ratings.

It is contemplated that the steps or descriptions of FIG. 5 may be usedwith any other embodiment of this disclosure. In addition, the steps anddescriptions described in relation to FIG. 5 may be done in alternativeorders or in parallel to further the purposes of this disclosure. Forexample, each of these steps may be performed in any order or inparallel or substantially simultaneously to reduce lag or increase thespeed of the system or method. Furthermore, it should be noted that anyof the devices or equipment discussed in relation to FIGS. 3-4 could beused to perform one or more of the steps in FIG. 5.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of illustrative steps for receiving and storing auser selection of a source of ratings.

At 602, the media guidance application generates for display (e.g., ondisplay 312) a predetermined list of sources of ratings (e.g., options208, 210, 212). The predetermined list of sources of ratings may be aset of online ratings providers, such as Rotten Tomatoes, Internet MovieDatabase, and Metacritic.com that have been predetermined as options forthe sources of ratings. The media guidance application may display(e.g., on display 312) the list of options (e.g., options 208, 210,212). for the user to select (e.g., via user input interface 310). Themedia guidance application may also include an option to input a customSource of Ratings that is not included in the predetermined list (e.g.,option 214).

At 604, the media guidance application determines (e.g., via controlcircuitry 304) whether the user selection was one of the predeterminedoptions (e.g., options 208, 210, 212) or whether the user-selected toinput another Source of Ratings (e.g., option 214). If the user did notselect to input another Source of Ratings and instead selected one ofthe predetermined options, process 600 continues to 608. Otherwise, ifthe user did select to input another Source of Ratings, process 600continues to 606.

At 606, the media guidance application determines (e.g., via controlcircuitry 304) whether the input from the user provides a valid link tothe Source of Ratings. The media guidance application may determinewhether the input from the user provides a valid link to the Source ofRatings by attempting to access the Source of Ratings via CommunicationsNetwork 414 based on the input provided. If the media guidanceapplication successfully accesses the Source of Ratings viaCommunications Network 414, the media guidance application determinesthat the input from the user is valid. If the media guidance applicationdetermines that the input from the user provides a valid link to theSource of Ratings, process 600 continues to 608. Otherwise, if the mediaguidance application determines that the input from the user does notprovide a valid link to the Source of Ratings, process 600 continues to602.

At 608, the media guidance application prompts the user for userregistration information (e.g., via display 312). User registrationinformation may include a username and password for a user accountassociated with the selected Source of Ratings. For example, the mediaguidance application may ask the user for a username associated with auser account for Metacritic.com, and then ask for a password associatedwith the username. The media guidance application provides the user withthe option to input the requested information (e.g., via user inputinterface 310).

At 610, the media guidance application determines (e.g., via controlcircuitry 304) whether the user registration information is valid. Themedia guidance application may verify that the user registrationinformation is valid by testing the user registration information andaccessing (e.g., via communications network 414) the selected Source ofRatings via the user registration information. If the user registrationinformation is valid, process 600 continues to 612. Otherwise, process600 continues to 608.

At 612, the media guidance application stores user registrationinformation and a link to the associated source of ratings in the userprofile (e.g., in storage 308 or media guidance data source 418). Thelink to the associated Source of Ratings may be a URL.

It is contemplated that the steps or descriptions of FIG. 6 may be usedwith any other embodiment of this disclosure. In addition, the steps anddescriptions described in relation to FIG. 6 may be done in alternativeorders or in parallel to further the purposes of this disclosure. Forexample, each of these steps may be performed in any order or inparallel or substantially simultaneously to reduce lag or increase thespeed of the system or method. Furthermore, it should be noted that anyof the devices or equipment discussed in relation to FIGS. 3-4 could beused to perform one or more of the steps in FIG. 6.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of illustrative steps for retrieving andgenerating for display the set of ratings from the source of ratings.

At 702, the media guidance application retrieves the stored userselection of a Source of Ratings from the user profile (e.g., storage308 or media guidance data source 418). For example, the media guidanceapplication may use the user registration information to log into theassociated user account with the selected Source of Ratings and thenaccess the Source of Ratings.

At 704, the media guidance application determines the set of media assetlistings to retrieve ratings from the user-selected source of ratings(e.g., selected option 208). In some embodiments, the set of media assetlistings is determined based on at least one of the user's viewinghistory, user's preferences as stored in the user profile, and trendingor popular media asset listings.

At 706, the media guidance application identifies (e.g., via controlcircuitry 304) a next media asset listing in the set of media assetlistings (e.g., from media guidance data source 418). The set of mediaasset listings is determined based on the media asset listings displayedto the user and is a subset of the plurality of media asset listings.For example, the media guidance application may access the plurality ofmedia asset listings (e.g., in media guidance data source 418 or mediacontent source 416) and retrieve the next media asset listing in theplurality.

At 708, the media guidance application queries the database for theentry associated with the identified media asset listing. For example,the media guidance application may query the database for a ratingassociated with the identified media asset.

At 710, the media guidance application determines whether the databaseof the plurality of ratings includes the entry associated with the mediaasset listing. If the database of the plurality of ratings in the Sourceof Ratings does not include an entry for the media asset listing, theretrieved rating will be null. If the media guidance applicationreceives a null value rating, process 700 continues to 712. Otherwise,process 700 continues 714.

At 712, the media guidance application queries the database associatedwith the default source of ratings for the entry associated with theidentified media asset listing. For example, if the retrieved ratingfrom the database associated with the user-selected source of ratings isa null value, the media guidance application may query the databaseassociated with the default source of ratings for the entry associatedwith the media asset listing so that the media guidance application mayretrieve an alternate rating.

At 714, the media guidance application stores (e.g., storage 308 ormedia guidance data source 418) the rating from the entry associatedwith the media asset listing. For example, the media guidanceapplication may store the retrieved rating with the metadata associatedwith the media asset listing in the media guidance data source 418.

At 716, the media guidance application determines whether there isanother media asset listing in the plurality of media asset listings. Ifthere is another media asset listing in the plurality of media assetlistings (e.g., from media guidance data source 418), process 700continues to 708. Otherwise, process 700 continues to 718.

At 718, the media guidance application receives from the user (e.g., viauser input interface 310) a request to view a plurality of media assetlistings (e.g., via display 312). For example, the user may use theremote control to navigate the electronic program guide to the scheduleof upcoming broadcasts as shown in FIG. 1.

At 720, the media guidance application generates for display (e.g., ondisplay 312) the plurality of media asset listings with the retrievedratings. For example, the media guidance application may display theratings alongside the media asset listings (e.g., on display 312) asshown in FIG. 1. In some embodiments, the media guidance application maydisplay a rating (e.g., rating 110 or rating 116) as a blank space orreplacement character (e.g., “-”) indicating that a rating was not foundin the user-selected source (e.g., selected option 208) for media assetlistings for which the retrieved rating was a null value. In otherembodiments, the media guidance application may have the default sourceof ratings search for any media asset listings that could not be foundin the user-selected source of ratings (e.g., selected option 208). Themedia guidance application may, after retrieving the ratings from theuser-selected source of ratings (e.g., selected option 208), determinethe media asset listings with ratings of null value, and retrievealternate ratings for each of the media asset listings with ratings ofvalue from the default source of ratings. The media guidance applicationmay then generate for display the alternate ratings. The alternateratings may be visually distinguished from the ratings retrieved fromthe user-selected source of ratings (e.g., selected option 208).

It is contemplated that the steps or descriptions of FIG. 7 may be usedwith any other embodiment of this disclosure. In addition, the steps anddescriptions described in relation to FIG. 7 may be done in alternativeorders or in parallel to further the purposes of this disclosure. Forexample, each of these steps may be performed in any order or inparallel or substantially simultaneously to reduce lag or increase thespeed of the system or method. Furthermore, it should be noted that anyof the devices or equipment discussed in relation to FIGS. 3-4 could beused to perform one or more of the steps in FIG. 7.

The above-described embodiments of the present disclosure are presentedfor purposes of illustration and not of limitation, and the presentdisclosure is limited only by the claims that follow. Furthermore, itshould be noted that the features and limitations described in any oneembodiment may be applied to any other embodiment herein, and flowchartsor examples relating to one embodiment may be combined with any otherembodiment in a suitable manner, done in different orders, or done inparallel. In addition, the systems and methods described herein may beperformed in real time. It should also be noted that the systems and/ormethods described above may be applied to, or used in accordance with,other systems and/or methods.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: receiving, from a user, aselection of a source of ratings, wherein the source of ratings includesa database of a plurality of ratings, and wherein each rating of theplurality of ratings is associated with a media asset identifier of aplurality of media asset identifiers; determining, for each media assetidentifier, whether the selected source of ratings includes ratingsassociated with the respective media asset identifier; in response todetermining that the selected source of ratings does not include ratingsassociated with the respective requested media asset identifier,retrieving a default rating associated with the respective media assetidentifier from a default ratings source; and generating for display theplurality of media asset identifiers, each of which is displayed withthe respective ratings associated with the respective media assetidentifier, wherein the displayed ratings retrieved from the defaultratings source are visually distinguished from other ratings retrievedfrom the selected source of ratings.
 2. The method of claim 1, whereinthe receiving the selection, further comprises: prompting a user toselect the source of ratings; receiving a user input from the user; anddetermining a corresponding source of ratings that matches the userinput.
 3. The method of claim 1, further comprising: automaticallystoring a link to the selected source of ratings on user equipment. 4.The method of claim 1, further comprising: generating for display, apredetermined list of sources; receiving, from the user, userregistration information associated with one of the sources of the listof sources; and verifying that the user registration information isvalid.
 5. The method of claim 4, further comprising: storing theverified user registration information with a link to the selectedsource of ratings.
 6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:retrieving a link to the selected source of ratings for accessing theselected source of ratings.
 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the linkto the selected source of ratings is a URL related to the source ofratings.
 8. The method of claim 7, further comprising: automaticallyretrieving a set of ratings associated with the plurality of media assetlistings from the plurality of ratings; determining a set of media assetlistings based on the plurality of media asset listings; and generating,for each media asset listing in the set of media asset listings, adatabase query to access an entry of the database corresponding to eachmedia asset listing in the set of media asset listings.
 9. The method ofclaim 8, further comprising: calculating a score for each media assetlisting, wherein the score is determined based on a rating of the set ofratings associated with the media asset listing and user preferences.10. The method of claim 1, further comprising: performing a mediaguidance function based on the set of ratings.
 11. A system comprising:memory; communication circuitry; and control circuitry configured to:receive, via the communication circuitry, from a user, a selection of asource of ratings, wherein the source of ratings includes a database ofa plurality of ratings, and wherein each rating of the plurality ofratings is associated with a media asset identifier of a plurality ofmedia asset identifiers; determine, for each media asset identifier,whether the selected source of ratings includes ratings associated withthe respective media asset identifier; in response to determining thatthe selected source of ratings does not include ratings associated withthe respective requested media asset identifier, retrieve a defaultrating associated with the respective media asset identifier from adefault ratings source; and generate for display the plurality of mediaasset identifiers, each of which is displayed with the respectiveratings associated with the respective media asset identifier, whereinthe displayed ratings retrieved from the default ratings source arevisually distinguished from other ratings retrieved from the selectedsource of ratings.
 12. The system of claim 11, wherein the controlcircuitry configured to receive the selection is further configured to:prompt a user to select the source of ratings; receive a user input fromthe user; and determine a corresponding source of ratings that matchesthe user input.
 13. The system of claim 11, wherein the controlcircuitry is further configured to automatically store a link to theselected source of ratings on user equipment.
 14. The system of claim11, wherein the control circuitry is further configured to: generate fordisplay, a predetermined list of sources; receive, from the user, userregistration information associated with one of the sources of the listof sources; and verify that the user registration information is valid.15. The system of claim 14, wherein the control circuitry is furtherconfigured to automatically store the verified user registrationinformation with a link to the selected source of ratings.
 16. Thesystem of claim 11, wherein the control circuitry is further configuredto retrieve a link to the selected source of ratings to access theselected source of ratings.
 17. The system of claim 16, wherein the linkto the selected source of ratings is a URL related to the source ofratings.
 18. The system of claim 17, wherein the control circuitry isfurther configured to: automatically retrieve a set of ratingsassociated with the plurality of media asset listings from the pluralityof ratings; determine a set of media asset listings based on theplurality of media asset listings; and generate, for each media assetlisting in the set of media asset listings, a database query to accessan entry of the database corresponding to each media asset listing inthe set of media asset listings.
 19. The system of claim 11, wherein thecontrol circuitry is further configured to calculate a score for eachmedia asset listing, wherein the score is determined based on a ratingof the set of ratings associated with the media asset listing and userpreferences.
 20. The system of claim 11, wherein the control circuitryis further configured to perform a media guidance function based on theset of ratings.